This paper is dedicated to the empirical analysis of the pilot trainee project Stáže ve firmách, which is considered as treatment in this analysis. The main objective of the empirical analysis is estimation of average treatment effect(ATE) and average treatment effect on treated(ATET) for characteristics like socioeconomic status and wage. Counterfactual methods for policy impact evaluation like Difference in Differences Estimator(DiD), First Differences Estimator(FD) and Propensity Score Matching(PSM) are used to estimation mentioned effects. This paper contains extension of Assignment Problem that is used for people matching purposes as alternative for PSM. This way of matching provides better control over creation of couples. Resulting pairs are more similar in selected characteristics due to better control during couples creation process.

This dissertation examines the role of public investments in inducing small firms to develop risky, early-stage technologies. It contributes to expanding our understanding of the consequences of research, innovation, and entrepreneurship policies and programs by investigating in more depth the effect of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program on the innovation effort, ability to attract external capital, and other metrics of post-entry performance of small business start-ups using a new sample and estimation approach. Unlike prior R&D subsidy studies that concentrated almost exclusively on European countries, this dissertation focused on small business start-ups in the United States using a new scientific survey of new firms. It integrated the Kauffman Firm Survey (KFS) from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation with the SBIR recipient dataset from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and used advances in statistical matching to achieve better comparability between the treated and control groups of small business start-ups. The integrated KFS-SBA dataset, which contains both recipient and non-recipient small firms, and statistical matching allowed us to empirically construct the counterfactual outcomes of SBIR recipients. This dissertation balanced the pre-treatment characteristics of SBIR recipients and non-recipients through propensity score matching (PSM). It constructed the comparison sample by identifying non-recipients with nearly identical propensity scores as those of SBIR recipients. Consistent with the propensity score theorem, observations with the same distribution of propensity scores have the same distribution of observable characteristics. PSM made the comparison and treatment samples homogenous except in SBIR program exposure, making the fundamental assumption of ignorability of treatment assignment more plausible. Using the realized outcomes of observationally similar non-recipient start-ups as the counterfactual outcomes of SBIR recipients, we found empirical evidence of the input additionality effect of the SBIR program. Had they not applied for and granted SBIR R&D subsidies, recipient start-ups would have spent only $185,000 in R&D, but with SBIR their R&D effort was significantly increased to $663,000, on average. The treatment effects analyses also found a significant positive effect of SBIR on innovation propensity and employment. However, it appears that public co-financing of commercial R&D has crowded-out privately financed R&D of small business start-ups in the United States. A dollar of SBIR subsidy decreased firm-financed R&D by about $0.16. Contrary to prior SBIR studies, we did not find any significant "halo effect" or "certification effect" of receiving an SBIR award on attracting external capital. However, we discovered a different certification effect of the SBIR program: SBIR grantees are more likely to attract external patents. This finding also confirms that innovation requires a portfolio of internal and external knowledge assets as theorized by David Teece and his colleagues. This dissertation's empirical results may be relevant to the Small Business Administration, SBIR participating agencies, the U.S. Congress, other federal, state and local policymakers, small high-tech start-ups, and scholars in the field of science, technology, and innovation policy.

This dissertation examines the role of public investments in inducing small firms to develop risky, early-stage technologies. It contributes to expanding our understanding of the consequences of research, innovation, and entrepreneurship policies and programs by investigating in more depth the effect of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program on the innovation effort, ability to attract external capital, and other metrics of post-entry performance of small business start-ups using a new sample and estimation approach. This study integrated the Kauffman Firm Survey from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation with the SBIR recipient dataset from the U.S. Small Business Administration and used advances in the micro-econometrics of program evaluation to empirically construct the counterfactual outcomes of SBIR recipients. We found empirical evidence of the input additionality effect of the SBIR program. The treatment effects analyses also found a significant positive effect of SBIR on innovation propensity and employment. However, it appears that public co-financing of commercial R&D has crowded-out privately financed R&D of small business start-ups in the United States. A dollar of SBIR subsidy decreased firm-financed R&D by about $0.16. Contrary to prior SBIR studies, we did not find any significant “halo effect” or “certification effect” of receiving an SBIR award on attracting external capital. What we discovered is a different certification effect of the SBIR program: SBIR grantees are more likely to attract external patents. This finding confirms that innovation requires a portfolio of internal and external knowledge assets as theorized by David Teece and his colleagues.

本研究使用「臺灣教育長期追蹤資料庫」第二波（2003）國三與第三波（2005）高二的CP追蹤數據，採用反事實模型框架下的傾向分數配對法估計單一性別環境對臺灣高中女生選組行爲（自然組／社會組）的因果效應。使用學生進入高中前的國三資料，本研究在學生因素，家庭因素和學校、班級因素三個方面充分平衡處置組（進入女校）和控制組（進入男女合校）的樣本，使配對樣本之間除了進入女校或進入男女合校之外，在以上三個方面儘可能相等，嘗試克服觀察性數據因選擇性偏誤問題對因果效應的估計帶來的阻礙。結果顯示，在進行傾向分數配對後，處置組和控制組之間達到了很好的平衡，進入女校的女生與進入男女合班的男女合校中的女生相比，女校顯著地促進了高中女生選自然組的機率，然而該效應在數學成績水平不同的女生中存在異質性，女校顯著地促進了數學成績處於高水平的女生的選擇自然組的行爲。作爲教育分流的重要組成部分，臺灣高中生選組行爲的性別隔離長期存在，選組行爲與學生未來大學科系選擇和職業選擇關係密切，自然組中低比例的女生組成顯現出隱藏的教育機會不平等。該現象長期存在的背後因素，除了學生個人因素和學生家庭背景因素帶來的影響，本研究關注學校這一角色對高中女生選組行爲的影響。 / Based on the Taiwan Educational Panel Survey’s core panel data from wave 2 (junior high school/9th grade) and wave 3 (high school/11th grade), researcher applies the propensity score analysis in counterfactual framework to study the causal effect of single-sex schooling on high school girls’ curriculum tracking (science track or humanity track) selection. Observational data always be the obstacles of making the causal analysis because it's lacking random assignment and being under threat of selection bias and unobserved variables. Using the pretreatment variables from students in 9th grade, students in the treatment group were matched with those in control groups by the individual factors, family factors and school, classroom environment factors. After matching, students come from different groups are supposed to be relatively equivalent on all the matching variables except for attending single-sex school or not. The researcher can make suitable comparison and prediction between well-matched samples. The result shows that more girls in single-sex high schools tend to choose science track. Effect of single-sex schooling is not the same among girls with different level of math scores. It benefits girls with top math performance significantly. As an important part of the educational tracking system, alternative curriculum tracking selection in Taiwan high school is worth noteworthy. The long lasting gender segregation is closely associated with students college major as well as occupation selection and it reveals the hidden educational inequality between gender. Other than focusing on the individual and family background effect on high school girls’ curriculum tracking selection, this study highlights the school effect on it.

Over the past couple of years, the South African government has been offering varied support to households that are engaged in small-scale farming, with the objectives of improving their livelihoods, income and food security. Although the various rounds of the General Household Survey (GHS) gathered information on the type of agricultural support received by the farmers, their production, agricultural income and food security status, there is limited empirical evidence on the extent to which the agricultural support programme is yielding the intended results. Very little is also known about how the beneficiary households perceive the agricultural support programme as either relevant or otherwise. This study fills these gaps in the literature using the GHS data spanning the period 2013 to 2016 to assess how government agricultural development support influences the livelihoods of small-scale farmers in South Africa. This broad objective is divided into two specific objectives: (1) to assess the effects of government agricultural development support on agricultural income, production and food security of beneficiary small-scale farmers in South Africa; and (2) to assess the usefulness of the government agricultural development support for the beneficiary small-scale the government agricultural development support for the beneficiary small-scale farmers in South Africa. By combining descriptive analysis with Propensity Score Matching (PSM) and logistic estimation techniques to address these objectives, the results indicate that from the year 2013 to the 2016 survey years, the proportion of households who have access to agricultural development support has decreased marginally by about two percent. Access to support has remained higher among males than females; farmers who have low levels of education than those with high levels of education. Across provinces access to agricultural support is high in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Northern Cape, North -West and Mpumalanga, but very low in the Free State, Limpopo, Gauteng and Western Cape. The agricultural development assistance given by the South African government is effective in reducing food insecurity, as well as in improving the production and income of the beneficiary smallscale farmers. However, the results suggest that the agricultural support system is having a heterogeneous impact on beneficiary small-scale farmers, depending on their gender and geographical locations. / Agriculture and  Animal Health / M. Sc. (Agriculture)